Sun Shines on LAMP — This morning we announced that Sun Microsystems has signed a definitive agreement to acquire MySQL. Having spent the last four plus years working on making MySQL into a strong independent company, this is a bit of a change of strategy, but from my perspective it's all for the good.

Sun To Acquire MySQL — Sun Microsystems announced this morning that it has agreed to acquire open source database leader MySQL AB for $1 billion in cash and assumed stock options. (Disclosure: I am on the board of directors of MySQL, and O'Reilly co-produces the MySQL User Conference with MySQL.

Sun acquires MySQL; Adds to its software stack — Sun Microsystems is taking the plunge into the database market with the purchase of open source database developer MySQL for $1 billion. — With the move, announced Wednesday, Sun takes a big leap into the $15 billion database market …

Why we're going to FastCompany.tv — Ahh, Andy Plesser broke my career news again (he was the guy who broke my news about leaving Microsoft too). Louis Gray got the story first, though, I think, although I told dozens of people at the BlogHaus last week at CES.

Surprise! Oracle buys BEA Systems — The clumsy courtship between Oracle and BEA Systems is over. Oracle said Wednesday that it will acquire BEA for $19.375 a share in cash. — The offer puts the value of BEA at roughly $8.5 billion. — It was a strange courtship to say the least.

Facebook asked to pull Scrabulous — Facebook has been asked to remove the Scrabulous game from its website by the makers of Scrabble. — The Facebook add-on has proved hugely popular on the social network site and regularly racks up more than 500,000 daily users.

iGoogle Themes Directory Launched — In October last year, I asked whether we should expect to see an iGoogle Themes Directory Coming Soon. Today, Peter Dawson noticed that the Themes Directory is now live! — Not only does the directory allow you to view and select themes …

iGoogle Themes API — Recently, on a trip to Shanghai, I snapped a bunch of incredible street photos for my friends and family back home. When I logged into my iGoogle page and was greeted by my iGoogle theme, I suddenly wished I could create my own theme out of my Shanghai pictures and share …

Stevenote In 60 Seconds — Too lazy to watch the entire Stevenote video stream on CrunchGear, or read Duncan's real time notes from the event? No worries. Mahalo's Veronica Belmont distills all the important stuff down into just sixty seconds. — See all of our coverage from Macworld here and at CrunchGear.